Yes, I'm going to weigh in on sports. No, I'm no Dave Birkett. But as a fan, the Detroit Lions belong, in part, to me – and to my friend, Ce'Ann Yates. She's a season ticket-holder from way back. I'm a no-phone-calls, in-my-pajamas TV game watcher.

And neither of us could just sit back and say nothing when there's even the remote possibility that something fantastic could happen for the Lions.

"Tony Dungy said we were the most Super Bowl-ready,” Ce’Ann said in a phone call during which we both admitted we barely keep up with the stuff off the field, except when it counts, like when we’re THISCLOSE to making the playoffs.

And when you’re THISCLOSE to making the playoffs, you start thinking outside the box – like dogging Dungy and begging him to come.

One contention (from those who favor Whisenhunt) is that he’s good with quarterbacks. Well, one quarterback. Dungy is better. And had Matthew Stafford lived up to his potential, Jim Schwartz would have been credited with being good with quarterbacks.

There are other contenders for Lions head coach. Management just interviewed Jim Caldwell, Gary Kubiak and Mike Munchak.

But Ce’Ann and I are reaching higher. We want Tony Dungy.

He’s a star coach. He was the first black head coach to win the Super Bowl, and he set an NFL record for taking his teams to 10 consecutive playoff appearances. His race has nothing to do with his accomplishments, but in Detroit, all three of those facts matter.

So here’s a thought: Maybe Lions fans could collect money and offer it to Lions management to hire Dungy. Or maybe we could give the money directly to Dungy to come out of retirement and rescue a team that has gone from laughingstock to just heartbreaking.

Yes, heartbreaking.

It’s one thing to continually lose and raise no one’s expectations. It’s terribly sadistic to win enough games to make us believe and then fall apart.

"I will be honest. I was pretty despondent at the end of the season,” Yates said. “If they hadn’t fired Jim Schwartz, I think it would have gotten really ugly in the fan base because people were at a place I hadn't seen even when we were 0-16.

“If we could get Tony Dungy, that would be great,” Ce’Ann said. "But more than anything, we need somebody who has not got that Same Old Lions mentality. We need someone who can take us to the next level.”

The next level.

We’re so close, sometimes we can taste it. And most fans know what the Lions' problem is: Its structure coddles a quarterback who doesn't feel he needs guidance or coaching.

Yeah, Stafford makes more each year than his coach – and all the reporters in my newsroom combined – and he always will. But if he's costing the team more than money, maybe a coach with a Super Bowl ring can get his attention. He’s talented, but talent without discipline means he’s just another good arm that will retire one day wondering what if.

Hey, Lions! If you haven’t called Tony Dungy … if you haven’t stood outside his house with signs saying, “It ain’t that cold in Michigan!” then do that. Or maybe Ce’Ann and I can do it for you.

It would be nice to have a coach who knows what it feels like to win the Big Game – and to be fans cheering that game.